Surrender
by Becca2312
Summary: When Brooke Davis' fiancee, Nathan Scott, leaves her in Tree Hill to join the military after graduation, she carries around a secret, in hopes that Nathan won't find out. But when he returns home after a year to be with her, there's a reason she doesn't take him back.


**Hello everyone. My name is Becca, and this is my first ever story that I've written for the public. I have a lot of**

**stories that I've written with my own characters, but that's for my eyes only. I was hoping you would**

**all enjoy this story though, because you know the characters.**

**This story is about Nathan Scott and Brooke Davis. They met in high school and fell in love. In their Senior year of high school, Nathan**

**proposed to Brooke. They made plans to get married and move to New York together, as Brooke was going to start her company,**

**and Nathan was going to play basketball there. But a few weeks before graduation, Nathan told Brooke that he was going to**

**be enlisting in the military. This story is basically where everything leads off from there. I don't know if people are**

**going to find this enjoyable or not, but it was fun for me to write anyway. I hope you like it. This chapter**

**is called "Endless Love".**

**xoxo**

* * *

It was a Saturday afternoon, the perfect sunny day, the kind that made Tree Hill magical, the navy blue water curled in little waves that kissed the sandy shore. Too many emotions where swirling around in Brooke's mind that day and she needed to cool off. She and long time boyfriend, Nathan Scott, were having problems lately.

After having been together for so long, Nathan proposed to Brooke, promising her everything the world had to offer. They set a wedding date for after graduation and it was only a few weeks away. But everything changed the night Nathan told Brooke that he was enlisting in the military. There was a fight, but it didn't last long. Nathan said something about how what he was doing was noble and Brooke muttered something about how dangerous the whole thing was. Everything was changing for the two of them and they didn't know how they could fix things.

With Nathan's news and the news of her parents' divorce spinning around in her head, she needed to clear her head. She walked down the shore when she saw Nathan. It was the first time she'd seen him since their long, awkward fight a week before.

"Nathan." Brooke smiled once she got close enough to recognize the eighteen year old. "I've been meaning to talk to you. I mean... after the way we left things-" Brooke said, lowering her head, feeling a little ashamed.

"Yeah, I know." Nathan couldn't find it in him to not be sad. Not after the conversation they had last week. "You look good, healthy." Nathan told Brooke, his hands in his pockets.

"Thanks. But you know, it's only been a week since we've talked. I haven't really changed at all."

"I know, but I..." Nathan took a long pause. "I worry about you."

"You don't need to worry about me. I'm fine."

"Well... Brooke Davis can handle anything, can't she?"

Brooke smiled and pushed her long hair behind her ear. "So... what are you doing here?"

"I needed to talk to you." Nathan said, standing in place, digging his feet in the sand.

"Are you here to tell me that you changed your mind about joining the army?"

"No." Nathan said, looking up at Brooke. "No, I haven't changed my mind."

"Nathan!" Brooke begged. "Please, stop and think about this! Do you know what you are getting yourself into?"

"Yes!" Nathan said, raising his voice, but keeping his control. "I know exactly what I'm getting into. Brooke, I'm not doing this for me."

"Well, you clearly aren't doing it for me either."

"No, you're right. I'm not. Brooke, don't take this the wrong way, but this isn't about you. And it's not your decision to make."

"You should at least respect that I have an opinion about this."

"And I do, baby. I do. I respect it, and I appreciate it. I just don't agree with it. I'm sorry." Brooke locked eyes with Nathan, trying to understand him. She sighed lightly and started to walk off, away from her fiancee.

"Brooke...!" He called out to her. She stopped in place and turned around to face Nathan, a good distance from him.

"What?"

"We can't just leave it at that, Brooke."

"Well, how do _you_ want to leave it? Because either way it's gonna end in goodbye... and I can't take that. I'd rather leave it at _I'm sorry_." Brooke turned back around and started walking off again.

"How 'bout _I love you_?" Brooke stopped in her place, but didn't turn back around. "Because I do. Brooke, I would give anything for you, but you have to understand that this is what I have to do. Maybe you'd rather leave it at _I'm sorry_ because it's too hard for you to say goodbye, but not saying goodbye would kill me." Brooke turned around with tears in her eyes.

"We were supposed to get married, Nate." She said, talking over the sound of the waves crashing. "How can you do that to me? After all we promised each other? I'm sorry, but I can't... I can't _do_ goodbye." Nathan looked at Brooke with soft eyes. It took everything in him not to start bawling. As the clouds started rolling, and the waves started crashing intensely, Brooke swallowed hard and took another step away from Nathan. "Now what I'm going to say I'm going to say right here. The first time I saw you... I knew I wanted to spend my entire life with you. And I know you felt the same. There was never any denying that. The day we got together... it seemed like a dream. Nothing else in my life mattered but you and everything was so much better when I had you next to me. I've been with you so long that I don't know how to be without you. And being without you every day is going to hurt so badly." Brooke's voice started to quiver. "So badly that I don't know if I can go through with this anymore." Brooke slipped her engagement ring off her finger and stared at it before continuing with her speech. "So I'm leaving what's left of our relationship right here in the sand. If you decide that you don't want to go through with enlisting, you'll know where to find me. And I'd be more than happy to put that ring back on." Brooke placed her ring in the sand, watching it sink a little. "But if you decide this is more important than me, then I'll understand... But I won't ever want to see you again. Seeing your face before you leave would be too much for me. If you don't want to marry me... then don't bother coming to see me. Don't visit me, don't call me, don't even think about me. Just forget everything that we've ever been and everything that we were supposed to be. When you proposed... you promised me an endless love. I just don't see us being endless anymore. Is that better than _I'm sorry_?"

Brooke couldn't believe she said those words together. She walked away from Nathan with water in her eyes. Nathan couldn't do anything but watch her walk away. The raven-haired boy reached into his pocket and pulled out his ipod, playing track number one- 'Endless Love'. It was their song. Brooke was always into older music, unlike most of the people in her school that listened to the more modern music. 'Endless Love' was the song that played the first time Brooke and Nathan made love. As Nathan walked in the opposite direction, he closed his eyes, listening to the song that was supposed to make him happy. Raindrops started falling on his shoulders as he walked off singing, "You will always be... my endless... love."

**~~~~xoxo~~~~**

Later that night, Brooke sat in her living room, staring at the door, hoping Nathan would show up to apologize and to take her back. She sat on that couch waiting since the moment she left Nathan at the beach. It was almost midnight when she heard a faint knock at the door. It was a familiar knock. A Nathan Scott signature knock. She knew it was him. She smiled as she went to open the door.

"You're here." Brooke smiled when she saw Nathan in her doorway, standing in the pouring rain. "Come inside, it's pouring out there."

"This'll just take a second." Nathan said with a lump in his throat. Brooke took another look at him, not even realizing he was in his uniform.

"You're leaving..." She said, realizing what was happening.

"I know you said you didn't want to see me, but I have to tell you this and you need to hear it." Brooke looked at him, letting him know silently that he could continue on. "I love you. And I wanna tell you why I love you. I loved you since I met you, but I wouldn't allow myself to really feel it until the moment that you gave me an ultimatium. My entire life I've always thought ahead, making decisions out of fear... But, because of you... what I learned from you; every choice I made was different and my life has completely changed... and I've learned that if you do that, then you're living your life fully... Brooke if not for you I would never have known love at all... So thank you for being the person who taught me to love... and to be loved."

"I don't know what to say..." Brooke said, amazed by what Nathan had told her.

"You don't have to say anything... I just needed to tell you." Nathan looked at Brooke with sad eyes. He knew that her heart was broken, and he knew that he was to blame. He placed his hand on her cheek, and she turned away, coldly. Nathan reluctantly reached into his pocket and watched raindrops fall onto a piece of folded up paper that he tried to hand to Brooke. "Take it. You need it." She looked at the boy, fighting every urge to break down and cry. She took the paper from him as he walked away without another word. When she unfolded the paper and started reading, she nearly died inside.

_My love, there's only you in my life. The only thing that's right. My first love, you're every breath that I take. You're every step I make. And I, I want to share all my love with you. No one else will do... And your eyes, your eyes, your eyes. They tell me how much you care. Ooh yes, you will always be... My endless love._

She forced her eyes away from the paper and looked out the door. Nathan was gone. She couldn't believe she was letting him leave. If there was any way she could stop him, she would do it. But she's said all the words she could think of. She ran out the door and chased after Nathan, nearly slipping on the asphalt.

"Nathan!" She called after him, shouting over the thunder. He turned around to see Brooke drenched in rain, standing the same distance apart as they did earlier at the beach. No matter what they did, there would always be that distance between them. "You're gonna leave it at that?"

"I had to." He called back. "It's how we started... and it's better than goodbye." Nathan turned back around and started walking off again.

"Wait!" Brooke shouted, running closer to him. Nathan turned back around, his heart breaking at the situation. "God, Nathan, I love you so much! I can't just let you leave!"

"And I don't want to."

"Then stay with me!" She cried. "Don't you know I can't live without you?"

"Don't you think I want to stay? I can't! You have to understand that I have to do anything I can so that I don't end up like Dan!"

"Joining the army is not the way to do it! If you don't want to be like Dan, then don't be. You're nothing like him, Nathan, I know it. You've gotta believe that!"

"I don't know that I do... and maybe this whole thing will be good for me... Maybe it'll help me realize it." As Nathan started to walk away, Brooke ran straight up to him, spinning him around and pressing her lips against his. Nathan couldn't find it in him to pull away. He just couldn't. When Brooke finally ended the kiss, she kept her hands on his cheeks.

"I love you." She sobbed.

"I know... and I love you too... that's why it's so hard for me to leave. But you understand, right?" Brooke nodded. "I don't want to end things with us. I couldn't bear it... so, will you try to wait for me? Please?"

"I can try..." She cried.

"I won't be gone long, Brooke... I promise... I'll come back to you." Nathan kissed Brooke one more time before finally walking away from her.

Brooke closed her eyes so she wouldn't have to watch him leave. She started sobbing, standing soaked in the rain, singing, "You will always be... my endless... love".

* * *

**I'd love to hear what you all think of this first chapter. Maybe I'll keep going?**

**xoxo**


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